Chapter 28 NORA
NORA
I push open the heavy oak door of Luca's bedroom, my bare feet sinking into the thick carpet.
The hallway behind me is quiet, but the silence inside his quarters carries its own weight.
Under the amber glow of the bedside lamp, a thick, unmarked folder sits squarely on his nightstand, catching my eye the second I step inside.
Water hisses through the pipes, sending white vapor rolling under the bathroom door. I step across the rug, reach out, and pull the front cover open.
The first page is a wire transfer receipt from a London account I don't recognize into Blake Crisis Management's emergency reserve. Dated the morning after they grabbed me. The amount makes my teeth hurt.
Second page: daily field logs and round-the-clock security rosters for my parent's house.
My jaw drops. It isn't just surveillance; Luca had his men pose as discreet private contractors from an Italian investment group doing business in town.
There are typed notes detailing how Dad invited the lead guard in for tea and biscuits, convinced the burly man was just an exhausted businessman with a bad back, while Mom badgered another about character alibis for her latest chapter.
Third page is Amelia's encrypted email chain with someone signed only as "A.R.
" She had been panicking about missing client meetings and payroll, threatening to go to Scotland Yard, but the replies kept her completely grounded.
Luca covered every single invoice, cleared rent on the London office, and sent flowers to my mother pretending they were from me on a secret retreat.
He kept my firm running and my family totally safe from the very first day I landed in Italy.
I sit on the edge of the bed with the folder open across my knees and try to remember how to breathe like a person who is not currently losing herself.
The shower groan as the water shuts off.
The bathroom door swings open on a cloud of steam, and Luca steps through with a dark towel knotted at his hips, droplets tracing the hard lines of his chest down past his ribs.
His gaze drops straight to the open folder across my bare knees.
His brow doesn't twitch. He just reaches up with a smaller towel, scrubbing at his wet dark hair while his eyes stay locked on the papers in my lap.
"You went through my things." He stops dead in the center of the room, water dripping from his shoulders as his dark eyes pin me in place.
I shake the top paper at him. "You dug into my entire life first. Tell me what this is before I lose my temper."
"Your business would have gone under in two days without help." He dries his hair with the towel, unbothered by my shouting. "Your assistant was ready to set fire to your landlord's car. Someone had to step in."
I cross my arms tight. "Amelia wouldn't set a fire. She'd pay someone online to pop the tires and expense it to the office."
Luca tosses the towel over an armchair. "She tried to bribe a detective with fresh bread. I had to pull two guards just to stop her from sending food."
I slap the file against my knee, eyes wide. "Help? You sent armed guards to London pretending to be Italian businessmen looking at commercial real estate. Dad made them minestrone and sent them home with sourdough starter!"
A faint twitch tugs at the corner of Luca's mouth. "Your father actually made them roast beef on Sunday. He insisted Sal looked malnourished and forced him to pack half a lemon drizzle cake for the drive."
"That cake takes Dad four hours to bake," I whisper, my fingers tightening on the edges of the page as warmth blooms behind my ribs. "You kept them completely safe, and you let them think you were just harmless executives passing through."
Luca pulls on black lounge pants, ignoring his shirt completely. "I kept your family safe. You weren't supposed to know until you were back home in London, free to hate me without feeling bad about it."
"Hate you." I drop the thick folder onto the bed. "Luca, your guards dragged me across Europe because Matteo can't tell two sirens apart. Then you spent a fortune making sure my mom could write her book in peace. That is strange behavior for a kidnapper."
"I take care of things." He walks straight toward me, warm and smelling like cedar. "You stay safe. Your family stays safe. What happens in this bed is just making the best of it."
"Put that on a poster, you maniac." I look up into his steady face. "Making the best of it? Is that what you call shoving me against the wall before dinner?"
"Nora." His voice drops an octave, striking that resonant pitch that makes my stomach do a slow, dangerous roll.
"I make jokes when I'm stressed, leave me alone." I tuck my shaking hands under my legs. "You handled everything. Every single day. Even while I was yelling, threatening and planning my escape."
Luca sits down beside me on the mattress, his warm bare shoulder touching mine. "Matteo earned every threat you gave him. You didn't ask to get pulled into my war. Keeping your world from falling apart was the bare minimum."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I study the tight line of his jaw. "Anyone else would have thrown it in my face right away."
"Because I didn't want you to feel like you owed me." He reaches over and takes my chin between his fingers, keeping my eyes on his. "I don't buy your feelings. I wanted you safe, not indebted."
My breath catches, rough and uneven, as his thumb rests against the pulse jumping in my throat. I swallow hard, my ribs aching under the quiet, steady weight of his hand, until the sharp retort on my tongue dissolves into nothing.
"I'm about to do something stupid." The words come out before I can stop them.
"What kind of stupid?" He tilts his head, his dark eyes locking onto mine with sharp interest.
"I'm giving up control." I stand up from the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Not because you forced me, but because you took care of my family when you had no reason to care. Tonight, you're in charge. Completely."
"Tell me what you mean." He goes dead still, watching me like a hawk. "Be clear, little bird."
"Tie my hands. Set the pace. Don't let me run the room for once." I keep my chin high and stare right back at him. "If you can't handle it, tell me now and I'll go back to complaining about you over breakfast."
"I can handle you." He stands up off the bed, placing his big hands on both sides of my face. "The second you say red, everything stops. Right away. Understood?"
"Red means stop." I lean into his warm hands with a small smirk. "Aside from that, do whatever you want with me."
"You're out of your mind." A low chuckle rumbles in his chest, breaking his strict expression for a second.
"And you paid my office electric bill." I hold his gaze, refusing to look away.
"Get on the bed. Clothes off. Hands over your head." He gives the order in a quiet, firm voice, kissing me hard on the mouth before stepping back.
My pulse jumps into my throat. I pull my shirt over my head, let it drop to the floor, and unhook my bra.
I kick off my jeans without breaking his gaze.
Luca doesn't blink; his pupils dilate until the brown turns almost black.
When my back meets the cool sheets and I raise my wrists, he pulls open the nightstand drawer.
Velvet cuffs click out on short leather tethers.
He wraps the padded bands around my wrists, cinching them snug, and snaps the clips to the heavy wooden posts of the headboard.
"Too tight?" He brushes his fingers under the soft lining around my wrists, checking the hold against the bed.
"It's fine." I pull at the straps, feeling how firmly they hold me down. "You really came prepared."
"Don't move unless I tell you to. You don't come until I say you can." He traces a slow line down my chest, circling my breast without touching the tip. "You can talk all you want. You don't get to run things."
"Bossy jerk." I tilt my head back as his hand slides over my stomach, catching my breath in my throat.
He pinches my nipple with sharp, merciless force, dragging a ragged gasp up my throat. "Say yes, sir. From now on, that is the only way you address me. Say it, Nora."
"Yes, sir," I whisper, the foreign title vibrating against my teeth while heat floods straight between my thighs. "I won't move, and I won't finish without your permission, sir."
"Almost." He drops his towel and climbs over me, his heavy thighs framing my hips. He leans down and bites lightly at the curve of my neck, right over my pounding pulse.
He notes the shiver running down my back and whispers close against my ear. "You jump whenever I touch you here."
"Stop talking and just touch me." I tug at the cuffs above my head in frustration. "Hurry up."
He laughs against my skin, dark and quiet, and then his mouth is on my breast, sucking hard enough that my back arches off the mattress. His hand slides between my legs without warning, two fingers stroking through the wetness already gathered there.
Luca thumbs slow circles over my clit, his dark eyes pinning me to the mattress. "Dripping wet for me. Look at my little whore. So eager to give up all that big talk the second she is strapped down."
I arch my pelvis up against his slick fingers, completely abandoning my pride under his heavy grip. "I need more, sir."
"Stay still." His voice is calm and direct, leaving no room to argue.
"You're awful," I groan, but there is no real bite left in my voice.
"Wait for it, my whore." He pushes two fingers deep inside me, curling them until I arch off the bed and let out a broken cry. His thumb starts rubbing slow circles over my clit, making my legs tremble.
"Luca, please." His real name slips past my lips before I can stop it, gasping for breath as the heat coils tighter and tighter between my thighs.
Luca stops instantly. His fingers withdraw from my body, and his dark eyes narrow in cold displeasure. "What did you just call me?"